The Abandoned Island

The Ffarquhar Branch

The sun would peak through the windows of the Steamworks, slowly rousing everyone from their slumber. As Zeph packed up her sleeping bag and heated some food, the engines began to talk again about which line should be chosen. It was still quite the mixed bag of opinions till Edward remembered something, "The Little Western is along the coast. The rails are probably rotted away, so we almost certainly can't go there." The Works went quiet. No one had even considered that as they all had been going off the assumption that the rails were in the same condition as the rails they were using.

Zeph chuckled, "Well, I guess that narrows that down. I hadn't even thought about that." She smiled at the engines before opening the Work's doors. The sun beams poured into the workshop, bathing everything in warmth and light. Zeph then turned to the engines, her brow furrowed in contemplation. "Do you think we should take the breakdown train? In case something happens or stuff is in the way, or should we leave it here?" It had been discussed the day prior that she would take Rosie seeing as she was one of the lightest engines that was working. She let the engines mull over that as she moved everyone around to get Rosie outside, by which time the consensus was to take the train with them. With that decided, Zeph made sure Rosie was filled to the brim with coal and water, deciding to take one of the trucks full of coal with them as a pseudo-tender. Rosie would groan softly, though not in pain, "I've forgotten how it feels to have a warm boiler again. It feels wonderful!" Zeph chuckled and switched all the tracks while the lavander tank engine built up steam. It would take ten minutes or so till she'd have enough to creep along, so the duo would get the truck and her attached to the breakdown train and pull it outside. They then would say goodbye to their friends, close the doors, and head off down the tracks towards Knapford.

Rosie steadily sped down the line with her train rumbling behind her. She wanted to speed down the tracks as fast as she could go since it had been so long since she moved on her own. Though, as much as she wanted to fly down the tracks, she knew not to do something so reckless, both for her safety and the safety of her passenger. Said passenger was humming softly as she shoveled coal and monitored the engine's gauges, making sure everything was ok. She was glad that everyone who once lived and worked on the island cared so much for the non-faceless vehicles and rolling stock. It would take well over an hour to arrive at Knapford, but instead of going all the way to the station proper, they would switch onto the branch line. They could have bypassed the first half of the line by taking the loop, but Zeph wanted to start at the beginning. Both so she could see every part of the line, but also so she, hopefully, didn't miss anyone along the way. The first place of interest being Dryaw, as they had an airfield.

The trio rumbled slowly and carefully down the tracks, making sure to watch the tracks as they went. Before long, they pulled into Dryaw station, and adjacent to it was the airfield. Zeph hopped out of Rosie's cab and stretched before turning to the lavander engine. "Do you think we'll find anyone here?" "Maybe Harold. I remember Percy calling him a 'stuck up whirly bird thing' once." Rosie couldn't help but chuckle as she saw Zeph's thoroughly confused expression. The young girl had never heard such a phrase before and had no idea what kind of aircraft it could pertain to. More curious than when they first arrived, she walked across the concrete platform and towards the hangars. She started with the small hangars first, but looking inside revealed only a handful of small facelsss planes. She then turned her attention to what was clearly the main hangar as it was the biggest and could hold several smaller planes easily. She jogged across the overgrown field to the hangar before walking over to the side door and forcing her way in.

Inside was obviously very dark with only the sunlight from the door she had entered through peaking in. She stood silently in the darkness for several minutes, allowing her blue eyes to slowly adjust. When they finally did, she could make out the dark shapes of a few faceless planes, and to her side, she saw a large, white helicopter with faded red lining. Looking across the large helicopters side, she saw towards the back it said "Harold" which made her eyes light up. She ran around to the front and found it indeed had a face, but this helicopter was sleeping deeply. He looked to be sleeping so peacefully that she wondered if she should wake him. She was thinking about leaving when Rosie whistled, making her jump and waking Harold up. He was as surprised as she was, and there was an awkward silence as they stared at each other before Harold broke the silence, "Hello, Ma'am. What do I owe the pleasure of being visited?" Zeph stayed silent for a minute before smiling, "Rosie and I are headed down the Ffarquhar branch, and I wanted to stop here to see if there were any non-faceless aircraft. Before I explored, Rosie told me that someone named Percy called you a whirly bird. Now, the nickname makes sense." Harold couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah, I was rather rude to the engines when I first arrived to the island. But we are all on good termd after having made up and some accidents. Though, from the way you referred to Percy, I assume you haven't come across any of the Ffarquhar crew?" Zeph shook her head before pointing at the large helicopter, "You are the only one, but then again, we have only just started. I'm hoping we can make it to Ffarquhar proper before nightfall. If not, we'll stop at Elsbridge as there is supposedly a shed there." "I see, well, if you do find the others, please give them my regards, please." "Of course! I'd offer to take you with us, but I don't think you'd fit through the tunnels or in the Works." That made the helicopter laugh heartily, a big smile on his face. "Certainly not, but if you are anything to go by, I might get fixed eventually. If I am, I'll take you on a ride around the island. It is a beautiful view up in the air." Zeph smiled and nodded, "I'd love that. Thank you very much, Harold. It was nice meeting you, and on our way back, I'll come fill you in on what we find." "Thank you as well. It will be nice to hear about my friends. Safe travels, Ma'am." Zeph gave a small bow and left, jogging back to the station platform.